Snapshots of Time XIII
by hummerhouse
Summary: Momentary glimpses of life, captured and placed into an album. Drabble sets. Some stories may contain TCest.


Snapshots of Time XIII

 **Angry Genius**

One of the wagon wheels caught on the edge of the ramp leading down to the lair and in his frustration Don gave the handle a hard yank. Don recognized his mistake a split second later when the entire heavily laden wagon came careening down towards him.

A leap took Don out of its path and the wagon rolled past him, shooting halfway across the lair as it gained momentum. Then one of the wheels popped off and the out of balance wagon tilted to one side, spilling part of its load before smashing into a wall.

Don looked at the mess in dismay. He'd just spent several hours at the junkyard collecting the parts he needed to make some necessary household repairs and he was tired. No one had wanted to go with him, so loading and hauling everything had been a one turtle chore.

He'd managed to find the parts he needed to fix the oven, to repair the lights in the dojo, to replace the van's radiator, and an assortment of other useful things which were now scattered halfway across his home.

Looking around for his brothers, Donatello spotted Mikey on the couch playing a video game while jamming to music through his headset. Raph was throwing darts at a target shaped like a Foot ninja and Leo wore a blindfold as he dodged a swinging weight tied to a rope suspended from the ceiling.

"A little help here!" Don called out, wanting nothing more than to crawl into bed but knowing he couldn't while his scavenged parts lay all over the floor.

Just as he expected, none of his brothers responded; none of them even glanced in his direction. Don couldn't have been ignored better if he was invisible. Thoroughly annoyed, Don stormed off to his lab and slammed the door.

"I think Don's pissed," Raph said, noticing Don's violent exit.

Leo pushed the blindfold to the top of his head and looked around. Noticing the junk scattered everywhere, he said, "Maybe we should have gone with him on his scavenging run."

A second later all of the lights went out.

"Hey!" Mikey shouted, pulling his headset off. The television array was now black; there wasn't even a power light to be seen from the various sets or the gaming system. He put one of the earphones to his head and heard nothing; the stereo wasn't working either.

The silence settled over them eerily and that was when all three noticed that the air filtration system had stopped running.

From beneath the door to the lab there was a dim glow; other than that and the Y'Lyntian crystals, the lair had been plunged into complete darkness.

"Yep," Raph said, "we should definitely have gone with him."

 **Movie Night**

"Du~de," Mikey said happily, "this is the best night ever!"

"You say that every time we get to go out in public," Don whispered. "If you don't keep your voice down, we're going to get kicked out."

Mikey wiggled excitedly in his seat, enjoying the thick cushion on the movie theatre chair. Placing his foot on the rail in front of him, he leaned back and sighed with contentment.

Don smiled indulgently and sipped his fountain drink. Mikey had insisted on getting their snacks and had sent Don on ahead to secure the seats in the center front row, just above the main walkway and the row of seats that gave you a neck ache if you arrived late and had to sit in them.

Not that Don had to rush. The theatre wasn't crowded; apparently a monster movie marathon in the middle of June wasn't a big draw in spite of the fact that it was 'wear a costume' night. Don had seen more people going in to see the Titanic movie rerun, all of them dressed in appropriate period pieces.

Four teenagers appeared at the top of the ramp and glanced around before heading up to seats behind Don and Mikey. All four; two boys and two girls double dating and not in costume, gave the turtles amused glances as they passed. Don could hear the girls giggling but ignored them; happy to have a human look in his direction without screaming.

For his part Mikey appeared not to have even noticed that other people had entered the theatre. He was munching away on a gigantic tub of buttered popcorn, his eyes riveted to the movie previews that were playing. A similar tub of popcorn and an array of boxed candy sat on the empty seat next to him and a tray of nachos occupied the seat adjoining Don's.

Mikey took a noisy sip of his drink, drawing another round of giggles from the teenagers. There were two other jumbo soda cups in the drink holders of the vacant chairs to either side of the brothers, brought back by Mikey on his supply run. It was a testament to Mikey's juggling skills that he'd managed all of the food and drink single handedly.

The warning about cellular devices flashed across the screen and Mikey sat up straighter, looking over at Don with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Where are Leo and Raph? I thought they came in behind us," Mikey said.

"They did," Don told him. Using his thumb to gesture over his shoulder, Don added, "They're up at the top in the very back row."

"Too paranoid to join us down here, huh? Figures they'd want to sit with their backs to a wall," Mikey said. "I'm not taking the snacks up to them; if they want something they'll have to come down here to get it."

"Actually, they weren't all that interested in snacks," Don said. "Or in the movie marathon either."

"Then what the shell did they come for?" Mikey asked.

"They're using this opportunity to make out," Don said with a wink. "Here they don't have to worry about Master Splinter walking in on them."

Mikey seemed to digest that information, ignoring the fact that the first movie had begun. Then he abruptly stacked the popcorn boxes and shoved them at Don before gathering up the rest of their snacks.

"Grab what you can and let's change seats," Mikey said, his blue eyes shining lecherously in the dark. "I think we should follow their example!"

 **Intervention**

"Why are we doing this again?" Don whispered.

"Because he needs it," Raph explained in a low voice. "He's going back ta that place in his head where he beats himself up over stuff he can't control."

"'Cause you got hurt," Mikey said.

"Yeah I got hurt," Raph said flatly. "Big fight like that one the other night and somebody's bound ta get hurt. Fact of life."

"Not to him," Mikey replied. Before Raph could snap at him, Mikey lifted a palm in a placating gesture. "Hey, I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just pointing out how Leo takes things."

"That's why we need an intervention," Raph insisted, keeping his voice down. "We gotta nip this in the bud. He's been training for how many hours now?"

"The fight was three days ago," Don answered. "I figure he's gotten a total of nine hours of sleep since then. He almost took my head off when I offered him a sleep aid and he even got short with Master Splinter about it."

"See?" Raph moved closer to the entrance to the dojo. "He needs this. Just remember what ya' have ta do and stick ta the plan."

His brothers nodded. Raph chanced a quick glance into the dojo and saw that Leo was sparring against an invisible foe, his swords slicing air as he leaped and parried blows. Raph recognized the moves; they were from the start of their fight with the Foot and Raph knew Leo was trying to compensate for allowing the ninjas to separate him from his brothers.

Raph also noticed that Leo's steps weren't as crisp as usual, that his movements were a fraction off; his muscles trembling from exertion just enough to affect the flow of his sword. On Leo's face was the look of grim determination that bordered on the edge of obsessive behavior and was exactly the thing Raph wanted to stop before it went too far, if it hadn't already.

Now completely silent, Raph signaled to Mikey and Don with a nod and lifted two fingers into the air. When he brought the first one down the trio drew their weapons and when he lowered the second finger, they darted into the dojo.

Raph and Mikey immediately broke to the left and right of Leo while Don slammed and locked the door, holding his position between it and Leo. The sound and movement drew Leo's attention and just the fact that he hadn't already sensed their presence was a good indication of how exhausted Leo was.

"Ya' need ta stop now, Leonardo," Raph said, his tone purposeful.

"I don't have time for this," Leo told him, glaring at his brother.

"That's all we've got bro'," Mikey said gently, his voice a contrast to the spinning nunchaku he held. "Time. You need to take some and relax."

"I'll relax when our enemies have all been defeated," Leo said. His eyes narrowed as he examined first Mikey, then Raph, before finally settling on Don.

"Don't even think about it," Don said, his bo held in a defensive position. "I brought my A game and you can barely stand up."

"I thought ya' were enlightened Fearless," Raph said, moving closer to Leo and drawing his attention. "I thought the Ancient One showed ya' that fighting with yourself wasn't productive."

"I'm not fighting myself," Leo insisted. "Our teamwork failed; our communication broke down. I have to know why."

"All four of us are here, Leo. Nothing failed. There were more of them than we expected, that's all," Raph said, watching his brother intently.

"I should have expected it," Leo snapped. "I should have foreseen that possibility and had a plan on standby."

"You can't foresee every conceivable thing that can happen, Leo," Don said. "There are an infinite number of variables involved in every fight we get into. Your plans always get us through the most likely scenarios and our abilities and experience take care of the rest."

"My getting hurt was no fault of yours," Raph said. "That was pure bad luck on my part. The gash is healing up and I don't even feel it when I run anymore. Now it's time for ya' ta snap out of it."

"Come on Leo," Mikey urged. "We decided a long time ago that none of us would shut themselves off from the others."

"That's an easy promise to make when you have no responsibilities!" Leo shouted.

Don immediately spun his bo, pulling Leo's eyes towards him. Raph and Mikey jumped towards Leo simultaneously; Mikey swinging his nunchucks in a high arc towards Leo's head.

Leo's katanas rose to bat the wooden missiles aside and then swept down again as Raph pressed in close. In a blur of steel, Raph's sais came up and caught Leo's blades, the razor sharp swords snagged in the wings.

Before Leo could pull them back, Raph twisted his wrists a half turn, trapping Leo's weapons. Forcing Leo's arms away from his body, Raph threw himself backwards and pulled Leo down with him.

Mikey and Don appeared on either side of them as they fell and Don pressed his bo into the back of Leo's neck to keep him from getting off of Raph. Mikey grabbed one of Leo's wrists and Don leaned down to latch onto the other.

Growling in frustration, Leo stared down at Raph, who met his eyes placidly.

"Teamwork Leo," Raph said quietly. "We're good at it and ya' should know that better than anyone. What you're trying ta find is some kind of guarantee about what happens ta us and ya' know that ain't possible."

Leo inhaled sharply, the sound almost like a sob, before the tension drained from his body. His hands slowly opened and his katanas hit the floor as Don removed the bo staff from his neck. Both Don and Mikey let go of Leo's wrists once he'd relinquished his weapons.

"I can't sleep," Leo told Raph in a half-whisper.

"Don't know why ya' do this ta yourself," Raph said, his lips curling upwards just before he pressed them against Leo's. "How 'bout we head up ta your room and Mikey, Don, and I will help ya' relax."

"More teamwork?" Leo asked, a touch of humor breaking through his exhaustion.

"The best kind," Raph promised.


End file.
